Lao Tzu said: “Muddy water, let stand – becomes clear.”
Sthira sukha asana. Posture should be steady and comfortable, as Patanjali states in the Yoga Sutra. No matter which school of meditation you choose to practice, the physical ability to sit comfortably and steadily affects the ability of the mind to stay focused during meditation. If we are uncomfortable, the mind can become distracted. We can resist distractions and tolerate mild discomfort such as a hard floor or imperfect room temperature because our intention is to continue meditating. The most important point is that the physical and mental challenges of starting a meditation practice don’t intimidate us to the point where we believe it’s out of reach.
Sitting for an extended period of time takes practice. With sincere and repeated attempts the joints equilibrate, the body adjusts and the mind distills. If it feels so good that we want to do it again, we’ve created a positive feedback loop. In order to create this experience, a variety of seated postures are possible.
The image of padmasana (lotus pose) may be the most popular icon symbolizing meditation, yet few people can plop into it on day one or even after years of yoga practice. Lotus is a posture that must never be forced (contraindications include a meniscus tear or medial collateral ligament injury). For many people, it can be possible to work up to the posture through consistent and targeted work in the hips, legs and lower back, including stretching the iliotibial, or IT band, the sheath of muscle and connective tissue on the outer thigh.
How we sit when meditating depends on our body’s anatomy, our strength and flexibility. Even in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, lotus is not the only seated posture. A number of options are given and beyond what is outlined in the texts, meditation can be done in any position, with or without props, in a chair or even lying down. Deep meditation is even practiced while walking or otherwise moving consciously.
The anatomy you’ve inherited, known as your initial or congenital anatomy, affects whether you’ll prefer to sit with the legs internally rotated as in virasana or hero’s pose or externally rotated as in a lotus or any other cross-legged position. When I spoke with Loren Fishman, MD, co-author of Yoga for Arthritis and Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis, he explained that people born with femoral anteversion (the head of the femur joint rotated up) more easily rotate the hip joint internally. That person will be prompted toward supported virasana (hero’s pose). If someone has an unstable sacroiliac joint, known as sacroiliac derangement, an under-diagnosed condition, they may prefer sitting in virasana, where the hip joint is internally rotated. If there is a pulling sensation around the knees while sitting in virasana, it can be helpful to place a bolster, block or rolled blanket under the pelvis until the knees feel no stretch.
Pregnancy can also be a factor that affects sitting; the tendons around the sacrum can become more elastic during and just after pregnancy due to the hormone relaxin, thus it often feels better to sit with the legs externally rotated, mildly compressing the sacroiliac joints and holding the sacrum in place. Using a bolster or specially designed meditation seat or bench (see photos) often makes sitting easier.
Getting Comfortable
Minute subtle shifts help us distribute weight evenly so there is an awareness of symmetry. If you imagine the pull of gravity like a huge magnet under the floor, you may be able to experience the weight of your pelvis and legs resting on the Earth. Try rocking side to side to find the bottom tips of the left and right pelvic bones, poetically named the ischial tuberosities. Then rock forward and back, as if riding a horse, to locate your tailbone and the base of your pubic bone. These adjustments help align the pelvis and may increase awareness of a diamond shape created by those four points. Once you get a sense of downward energy (apana), you can begin to extend upward through the spine. By elongating through the side waist and side neck you may eventually access a feeling of lightness (prana) in the ribcage and skull. If your legs fall asleep it means the pose is too tight causing ischemia (occluded artery). Most people can safely endure some degree of numbness in the legs without danger, unlike ischemia in the head or heart during inversions, which is unsafe.
Benefits of Finding a Seat
Meditation is a valuable resource for all of us exposed to hyper-stimulating events in this world of rapid change. In fact, meditation in a number of forms is a part of many mainstream medical treatments for conditions as varied as heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, attention deficit disorder, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Meditation is a practice tool that allows us to metabolize the manifest and latent content of the day (the external and internal stimuli). Health concerns, family tensions, career successes or losses, interpersonal crises, war, random violence and dire predictions can accumulate. Unprocessed thoughts and feelings blunt our ability to access inner truth and may leave us feeling bogged down and dull. Whether meditation is sacred and holy or merely a practical way to manage an overloaded psyche, finding a way to be at peace is worth the work.
Julie Carmen, MA, LMFT, ERYT-500 is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Malibu and a certified yoga therapist on the faculty of LMU Yoga Therapy Rx. She’s been teaching at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement since 2001 and has been Suzanne Somers private yoga teacher since 2003. Julie Carmen’s YOGA SLOW FLOW DVD and YOGA FOR HORMONES CD are available at www.yogatalks.com.
Translated by Laura Elena Ortuño.
